A deep dive into the world of Strava, power data, and professional cycling...
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How do professional cyclists prepare for the Tour de France?
How do they prepare for the mountains, such as the Col de Tourmalet which climbs over 2000 meters? How do they prepare for the crazy crosswind stages, where they reach speeds in excess of 70 kph on a flat road? And how do they prepare for being in the saddle for almost six hours a day for three consecutive weeks?
Every single rider’s approach to the Tour de France is different. Some like to race more than they train, others train more than they race. Some like to go to isolation – I mean, altitude – camps, while others prefer the comforts of home.
GC favorites and marquee names have been preparing for le Tour since last winter. Riders such as Geraint Thomas, Thibaut Pinot, and Romain Bardet know that their spots are secured. But this is not the norm. Most riders have to fight to make their team’s Tour squad. The selection process is tricky – and surprisingly emotional – for everyone in the team, be it riders, staff, management, trainers, and soigneurs. And every year, there are riders who are left off the squad. Many go home in tears. But for 176 of the world’s best bike riders, the dream of riding in the Tour de France becomes reality.
After 21 days of racing, the peloton arrives in Paris, snaking around the Arc de Triomphe and along the Place de la Concorde, before exploding on to the Champs-Élysées for the final time in a mad-dash finishing sprint. Each rider who crosses the line feels a mixture of relief, agony, and bliss. Three weeks and 3460 km of racing after le Grand Depart, they are done.
When the riders cross the line for the final time, we know who has won. For the past two decades, the answer has been obvious: the wearer of the yellow jersey. He crosses the line with his hands in the air, a smile on his face, and his teammates’ arms draped around him.
As cycling journalists, we are often asked how the race was won. Was it in the mountains? Was it in the time trials? Was it in the crosswinds in the first week, or the Col de Tourmalet on Stage 14?
But instead of looking at the Tour de France alone, I wanted to dive deeper, to look further and further back. I don’t believe the Tour de France is won in July. I believe it is won in April, May, and June. It is won over the winter in December in January. And it is won in the years before that, with genetics and training, with great coaches and supportive clubs, and with the building of a passion for the sport of cycling.
The 176 starters in this year’s Tour have those gifts – genetics, talent, great coaching, and a passion for the sport – so what separates the good from the great? Is it focusing on training or racing before the Tour? Is it about arriving fresh and rested, or arriving peaked and primed with fatigue from last week still tingling in the legs?
In search of answers, I went back and looked at the training and racing plans of several stand-out riders from this year’s Tour: Thomas de Gendt, Michael Woods, Chad Haga, and Jack Haig. I expected more similarities than differences between their pre-Tour training plans, considering they are all training for the same exact race. Boy was I wrong.
8 weeks out:
De Gendt: 8 weeks before le Grand Depart, De Gendt was just finishing the first week of the Giro d’Italia. He spent 33 hours in the saddle, and climbed over 13,700 meters.
Woods: Woods spent the middle of May in Andorra, and 8 weeks out from the Tour was the start of a massive training block for him. He spent 30 hours in the saddle this week and climbed over 16,000 meters, a very similar workload to the riders competing in the Giro. But, it is important to note that training alone – which I’m assuming Woods did – is much different than riding in a Grand Tour. You actually have to pedal on the flats, as opposed to spinning at 90 W in the draft of the peloton. And there’s a lot less stress both on and off the bike – think stage transfers, strict daily schedules, and pressure from fans, media, and team management.
Haga: Haga was also wrapping up the first week of the Giro along with De Gendt. He spent the same amount of time in the saddle, and climbed the same number of meters, as De Gendt. Go figure.
Haig: Like Woods, Haig spent much of May in Andorra, riding up and down the enormous mountain passes over and over, day after day. Haig had the *lightest training load of this bunch, but still spent over 27 hours in the saddle and climbed 19,000 meters. Haig was clearly working hard on getting his climbing legs back into form after a few weeks of easier training.
It is fascinating to see how closely each of these riders training plans align eight weeks out from the Tour. Every one of them was spending a huge amount of time in the saddle, many with the added intensity of WorldTour racing. And for those not racing, they were still putting out huge efforts in the mountains, on 5 and 6 hours rides not too dissimilar from those at the Giro.
*Note: Andorra sits at roughly 2000 meters above sea level, so Woods and Haig are already training at altitude, and their power numbers (below) may be lower than at sea-level.
4 weeks out:
De Gendt: After finishing the Giro – and placing 3rd in the final TT no less – De Gendt took four days off before easing back into training. For his first two days back on the bike, he rode less than two hours each. A 90km ride over the weekend brought his 7-day total up to just 6.5 hours. Is four weeks out the time to rest?
Woods: After a few weeks of training in Andorra, Woods headed to France to race the Critérium du Dauphiné. After finishing 5th on Stage 2, in a select group of soon-to-be Tour de France GC contenders and stage winners, Woods fell ill and was unable to start the final stage of the race. Despite only riding six of the seven days, Woods spent over 26 hours in the saddle and climbed over 11,000 meters. His Top-5 performance on Stage 2 required a weighted average power of 295 W (4.61 W/kg) for nearly 4.5 hours, including a ten-minute effort at 411 W (6.42 W/kg) in the race’s finale. So I guess four weeks out is not the time to rest?
Haga: After winning the final stage of the Giro – the biggest win of his career – Haga enjoyed a single day off before jumping back in the saddle. Now back in his European base of Girona, Haga pedaled easy around the countryside, exploring and meandering his way to a lowly 12 hours of riding the week after finishing the Giro.
Haig: Like Woods, Haig headed to the Dauphiné as well (I wonder if they were on the same plane from Andorra together). Haig put in a standout performance in the final stage, making the winning breakaway and sprinting for the win against Dylan Van Baarle. The Dutchman took the victory, but it must have been a huge confidence boost for Haig, and a confirmation of his form and fitness less than a month out from the start of the Tour. All told, Haig spent 30 hours in the saddle and climbed over 13,000 meters over the course of the week.
Just four weeks away from the biggest race of the year, Haga and De Gendt barely rode, whereas Woods and Haig raced one of the hardest week-long races of the year in the Dauphiné. But it all makes sense – the former two are just coming off of the Giro d’Italia: 100+ hours of racing in three weeks, attacking into breakaways, climbing snow-lined mountain passes, and time trialing to stage wins. It was a well-deserved rest the both of them earned.
It will be interesting to see how Woods bounces back from illness. He was riding incredibly well at the beginning of the Dauphiné, but now questions are raised about his health and form just before the Tour. Will he even make the EF Education-First team? The Tour is only four weeks out, and if Woods doesn’t recover in time, he may well be on the chopping block.
2 weeks out:
De Gendt: After putting in a big – albeit short – block of training three weeks out from the Tour, De Gendt returned home to Belgium to race the National Championships. He took 6th in the TT (averaging 393 W, 5.7 W/kg, and 49.1 kph, for 46 minutes – and still finishing two minutes down on winner Wout Van Aert) and 70th in the RR. De Gendt did a low-volume week punctuated by high race intensity, a total of just 15 hours in the saddle and with only 3300 meters of climbing.
Woods: A couple weeks out, Woods is in Girona, along with Tejay Van Garderen and sports physiologist Dr. Allen Lim, at a highly structured pre-Tour training camp. Their journey was chronicled in Velonews’ Beyond Limits, a series of videos and articles covering such topics as e-bike ‘motor pacing’, rider sweat rate, and the psychology of cycling.
Woods put in a solid week – 21 hours in the saddle with 9100 meters of climbing – but this time the focus was on targeting specific intensities rather than volume. With the help of ex-pro Tim Johnson, and teammate Taylor Phinney, Woods and Van Garderen performed race-simulation efforts on the climbs, riding at threshold (>400 W, or 6 W/kg for these guys), following surges, and settling back in to high tempo, all on rides as long as six hours.
Haga: After his post-Giro ‘break’, it was time to get back to it for Haga. He put 21 hours in the saddle this week, with added race-like intensity as well. One of his mountainous rides in Girona, for example, consisted of a number of tempo, threshold, and VO2 Max repeats on the climbs. The first effort was a tempo-to-threshold build, where he averaged 394 W (5.5 W/kg) for eight minutes. Next were two sets of VO2 Max efforts: 30 seconds at ~650 W (9.1 W/kg), followed by 90 seconds recovery at ~220 W (3.1 W/kg). There were a few tempo efforts sprinkled in between sets, with Haga pushing over 370 W (5.2 W/kg) for eight minutes at a time, his heart rate barely breaking 150 bpm.
Haig: Only 10 days out from the Tour, Haig is still in the midst of a massive training block. This week, he spends nearly 26 hours in the saddle and climbs over 16,000 meters. One of his biggest rides, for example, was a four and half hour climb-fest in which he ascended 3700 meters, finishing with a weighted average power of 294 W (4.4 W/kg). He rode the opening climbs at a moderate tempo of 300-340 W (4.6-5.1 W/kg), recovering on the descents in between. Next was a two-set series of over/unders: five sets of three minutes over threshold at ~410 W (6.1 W/kg) followed by two minutes under threshold at ~340 W.
It’s National Championships week, and while most other riders travel home to compete for their National colors, only De Gendt chose to make the trek out of this group (Haig, being Australian, could have raced the National Champs back in January, but chose to skip them anyway). For the Woods, Haga, and Haig, this is the time for super-focused training. That means altitude camps, mountainous rides, plenty of motor pacing, and no distractions.
For Haga, this was the time to reawaken his body from its post-Giro slumber. By throwing everything but the kitchen sink into his interval rides, he was able to stimulate almost every energy system possible, much like racing. Surely it served as a reintroduction to suffering as well, the feeling of lactic acid burning in your muscles, pain searing in the lungs, and a little voice inside your head screaming Ouch, this hurts! Please stop!
1 week out:
De Gendt: After the National Championships, De Gendt never rode more than two hours prior to the start of the Tour. The hard work had been done, the miles are in the legs, and the form is good. All that’s left now to do is rest.
Woods: Of all these riders, Woods seems to have the most unique approach to the final week leading into the Tour. Just five days out, Woods and Van Garderen head out for one final smash session in the mountains. By the end of the day, they’ve spent over five hours in the saddle and climbed over 3000 meters in 172 km. They ride the climbs at a blistering pace – 5.0-6.0 W/kg, for 20 to 30 minutes at a time. Their power charts are erratic for these efforts: over threshold on the steep bits, easier on the shallow sections, punching it around switchbacks, and sprinting to the top. This is a race simulation day, the last day of hard work before resting before the Tour de France.
And then Woods takes a day off. Just four days out from le Grand Depart, Woods spends the day in bed – probably on an airplane, actually – his legs with nothing to do other than soak up the huge training load that he has accumulated over the past few weeks.
Haga: A few days before the Tour, Haga was in the Netherlands doing some TTT practice with his teammates. On a short and flat route that crossed the border into Germany, Team Sunweb practiced two TTT efforts, the first being 10 minutes at tempo, and the second being 20 minutes closer to race-pace. For these efforts, the team was rolling at a brisk 52.5 kph, fast enough to fog the mind in the midst of a high intensity effort, but not so fast as to sap crucial energy from the riders’ legs.
Haig: Haig stayed at altitude until the last minute, finishing his last ride in Andorra on July 3rd, less than three days before the start of the Tour. As expected, Haig’s training load is just a fraction of what he is used to, with his final few rides prior to the Tour being just one or two hours each.
REST. One week out from the Tour, training hard now could be a disastrous mistake. Riders want to be as fresh as possible for a three-week race – but it is a delicate balance. Being too fresh means that you are flat, and for the sprinters, that means no results at this year’s Tour. For the climbers, that could spell disaster for Stage 6’s summit finish at La Planche des Belles Filles.
1 day out:
De Gendt: The day before the Tour, De Gendt spends just an hour on the bike. Enough to spin the legs and keep the blood moving, but not enough to cause any kind of fatigue. For De Gendt – an experienced pro with no personal ambitions for Stage 1 – openers are unnecessary. Easy pedaling at 200-250 W is the only thing he needs.
Woods: EF Education-First opted for a two-hour ride – as opposed to Lotto Soudal’s hour – the day before the Tour. Spinning around Brussels at less than 200 W, Woods didn’t do any openers either. Just another couple hours of spinning the legs.
Haga: Team Sunweb headed out for a 90-minute spin the day before le Grand Depart, with a few hard efforts thrown in to open up the legs. While impossible to tell from Strava, it looks as if Haga – along with a few of his teammates – did a few efforts on their TT bikes as openers. Haga’s main effort lasted seven a half minutes at an average speed of 50 kph, and an average power of 363 W (5 W/kg). Likely a TTT effort based on its speed and punchiness, Haga’s power fluctuates between 250-300 W for most of the effort, before spiking up to a mind-melting 500-600 W for 15 to 45 seconds at a time – The difference between riding in the wind versus sheltering in the draft at 50kph is quite significant.
The commitment to Stage 2’s TTT is obvious for both Team Sunweb and Haga. He and his teammates spend extra time in the aero bars, practicing their pacing and execution all the way up until the day before the Tour.
Haig: One day out, Haig barely rode. He spent just over an hour on the bike at an average heart rate of 98 bpm, with no intensity to speak of. His goal is to be rested and peaked for the mountains, which come hard and heavy in the third week of the Tour, which is still over two weeks away.
One more day. I’m sure the riders are fidgeting at this point, fresher than they’ve been since the off-season break. They’re loaded up with energy and stress. There’s a lot of pressure at the Tour. Pressure from the fans, the media, the omnipresent scrum of photographers; the desire to please sponsors, staff, teammates, and directors; to make your family proud because I’m sure they’re watching back at home. It can be overwhelming, not just for the riders but also for the staff and everyone else involved in the Tour.
For the riders, all that’s left to do is prime the engine and trust your training. One last ride to open up the legs – if they need it – and then it’s all about resting. Save as much mental, physical, and emotional energy as you can for the next three weeks. Because you’re sure as hell gonna need it.
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So what happened? (To be updated)
De Gendt put on a show and soloed to the win on Stage 8 of this year’s Tour. After spending over 200 km in the break, the Belgian pulled away from his last breakaway companion on the final climb of the day, soloing to the finish ahead of the hard-charging duo of Thibaut Pinot and Julian Alaphilippe. He then went on to produce a head-turning effort in Stage 13’s TT, finishing 3rd only behind Geraint Thomas and Julian Alaphilippe.
On Stage 11, Mike Woods crashed and broke two ribs. He finished the stage and went on to finish the Tour. Classic cyclist.
Chad Haga rode for Michael Matthews for the first half of this year’s Tour, riding on the front of the peloton and chasing down breakaways in hopes that Matthews would win the sprint. In Stage 13’s TT, he put in a massive effort and came home just inside the Top 20.
Jack Haig worked as the final shepherd for his team’s GC leader, Adam Yates. Rarely seen in the first two weeks, Haig bided his time and saved as much energy as he could until the race hit the mountains.
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Link to riders’ Strava pages:
De Gendt: https://www.strava.com/pros/1855274 (69 kg)
Woods: https://www.strava.com/pros/425147 (64 kg)
Haga: https://www.strava.com/pros/269660 (71.5 kg)
Haig: https://www.strava.com/pros/283726 (67 kg)
Stage info: https://road.cc/content/feature/262576-tour-de-france-2019-preview-your-stage-stage-guide-what-lies-wait-all
Results: https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/tour-de-france/overview